Simulation and analysis
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
Flow, mixing, thermal and ventilation analysis by computational fluid dynamics.
Describe your projectWhat it covers
Computational fluid dynamics simulates fluid flow, heat transfer, mixing, combustion and multiphase behaviour. It covers internal and external flows, ventilation and smoke movement, heat exchangers and cooling, mixing and reactor performance, and erosion and particle-laden flows. A sound CFD study sets up the right physics and boundary conditions, checks mesh and turbulence-model sensitivity, and validates against data or known behaviour, so the result supports a decision rather than just illustrating it.
When you need it
You need CFD when flow, temperature or mixing drives performance and you cannot measure it easily, when you are troubleshooting a thermal or flow problem, when you are designing ducting, vessels or equipment with demanding flow, or when a fire and smoke study needs flow modelling. It answers questions physical testing would be slow or expensive to reach.
Standards, codes and tools
Commonly used tools: Ansys Fluent, Ansys CFX, Simcenter STAR-CCM+, OpenFOAM.
What to look for
Look for an engineer who treats turbulence model and mesh as choices to be justified and who validates the model where data exists. Ask how they will check sensitivity and what they will compare the result against. CFD is easy to make look convincing and hard to make correct, so the value is in the verification, not the rendering.
Common questions
What can CFD tell me?
How fluid flows, where it heats or cools, how well it mixes, and where pressure is lost or particles erode. It is used for ventilation, heat transfer, mixing, combustion, ducting and multiphase flows, among others, often where measurement is difficult.
How accurate is CFD?
Accuracy depends on the physics chosen, the mesh and the boundary conditions, and on validation against data. A well set up and validated study is reliable for engineering decisions. An unvalidated one can look convincing and still be wrong, which is why verification matters.
Further reading
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Describe your projectRelated specialties
Design-by-analysis
Code-compliant FEA of pressure equipment to ASME VIII Div 2 Part 5 where the rules do not reach.
Finite element analysis (FEA)
Structural and mechanical stress, deflection and nonlinear analysis by finite element methods.
Discrete element method (DEM)
Bulk solids flow, transfer-chute and equipment-wear modelling by discrete element method.
Process simulation
Steady-state and dynamic process modelling for plant design, debottlenecking and operation.